There is an interesting background to the Cambodia gambling dens that reside just over the dividing line from neighboring Thailand, in which gambling hall gaming is not permitted. Eight gambling halls are based in a relatively tiny area in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia gambling dens is in an excellent location, a three to four hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two most popular betting locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a huge business with Thai laborers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The astonishing income gained from the gambling halls ranges from 7.5 million dollars to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a number of limitations requirements for casino ownership. Ownership is required to be mainly Thai; still, funding sources are ambiguous. The borders are formally open from 0900 to 17:00, and even though visas are apparently necessary to cross, there are methods and means around this, as is correct of many border crossings.
The initial Cambodia gambling dens opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in 1998, leaving just 1 casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored ship gambling den, contains 150 slot machine games and 60 table games. The Naga casino is open all day and night with forty two tables of mini-punto banco, four tables of 21, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown quickly followed. A total of 150 slots and five table games at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machines and sixty eight table games at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains three hundred slot machine games and seventy tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machine games and 96 gaming tables, including eighty seven baccarat chemin de fer (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 one armed bandits and sixty six of the normal table games, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 gambling halls in Poipet, again in a motel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six one armed bandits and 97 table games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of a multinational resort and hotel complex that features numerous comforts in addition to the gambling den, which contains ten thousand sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slot machines and eighty eight table games.
